1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to multiple core processors and, more particularly, to workload performance within a multiple core processor environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Chip multiprocessors (CMPs) are becoming increasingly popular. A CMP has two or more processor cores implemented on the same integrated circuit. CMPs may be a more efficient use of the millions of transistors that may be included on an integrated circuit than, for example, a more elaborate single processor.
In many cases, CMPs may be used to increase the computing capabilities of a system by having more than just one processor perform the central processing tasks. In addition, by sharing the processing workload in a CMP, the processing efficiency may be increased while the overall thermal and power budget may be reduced when compared to a single core processor operating at its maximum frequency.
However, some of the available processing bandwidth in some CMPs may be wasted due to thermal and power constraints that are placed on the CMP. For example, in a dual core design, both cores may be individually capable of operating at three gigahertz (GHz). However, because of the thermal budget for the package, or the power budget for the system, both processor cores may be limited to operating at 2.7 GHz.